


A Lonely Saturday with James Joyce and a Hot Girl

by QwahaXahn



Series: She-Ra Modern AUs [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) is a Dork, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra Has Issues (She-Ra), College, Etheria College, F/F, Female Protagonist, First Meetings, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Human Catra (She-Ra), Jock Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Light Angst, Meet-Cute, Minor Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), POV Catra (She-Ra), POV Female Character, POV Lesbian Character, Poor Catra (She-Ra), Romantic Fluff, Strong Language, Teen Romance, Top Adora (She-Ra), Useless Lesbians, Warning: Language, Young Love, catra is a mess, shy Catra
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27093454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QwahaXahn/pseuds/QwahaXahn
Summary: Catra is an overly-introverted sophomore who doesn't get out except to go to class. She's lonely and weary of the endless student grind, but there's not much for her to do about it all. Except one Saturday, while studying at sunset in the library, she runs into a tall, blonde girl in the linguistics aisle who wears her varsity jacket way too nicely.
Relationships: Adora & Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Bow (She-Ra), Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Scorpia (She-Ra)
Series: She-Ra Modern AUs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2060214
Comments: 10
Kudos: 172





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m so fucking lonely.”

Catra breathed in and out again. She pushed the chair back and stood up from the table. Leaving her study materials strewn across the hardwood, she rolled her shoulders and wandered up the stacks. She needed a break from the mind-numbing, eternal routine of Read. Write. Stare. Check the time. Write. Turn page.

Whether or not Etheria College had been the right choice remained a significant question in her mind, even now in the spring of her sophomore year. Not because she didn’t yet know if the school had been good for her—academically, she’d certainly done well. But holy fucking shit, she wished she had any friends at all.

Then again, who’s to say a different school would have been any better?

“Perhaps the fault, dear Catra,” she murmured to herself, “is not in our schools, but in ourselves.” She certainly hadn’t made the effort to hang out with anyone socially.

She’d had the opportunity to. Her roommate, an extremely friendly junior named Scorpia, had spent several months making overtures of friendship, but Catra had always had a convenient excuse. She really  _ did _ have a lot of work—her major was demanding. She didn’t fully know what demon had possessed her to study English Literature, but here she stood. Trying  _ desperately _ to piece together any semblance of meaning from the scribblings of James Joyce.

Catra hugged herself with one arm as she peeked around the corner of a randomly-chosen set of shelves. Nobody else seemed to be on this entire floor, so she was surprised to see a figure several rows down. Company took the form of a tall, leggy blonde in a red varsity jacket. Tugging her olive-green cardigan closer around herself, Catra considered backing out of the little passageway... but wouldn’t retreating make it obvious she’d been scared off by this new girl?

Her stubborn nature got the better of her, and she decided to play it off. Hot Girl seemed to be fully engrossed in a dense book, so Catra felt safe enough hovering here, reading about... She scanned the nearest titles.  _ Theory of Linguistics textbooks? _

Catra raised her eyebrows. “Hottie has quite the taste.”

“Hm?” the blonde girl looked up from her book. “Did you say something?”

“Oh, no. Nah,” Catra waved a hand, trying desperately to look nonchalant while her heart seized in her chest. “Sorry about that.”

As Hot Girl turned back to her book, Catra quickly turned her face away, tugging her thick hair into her very, very red face to hide. Never before had she so wished her black knit beanie could swallow her up completely.  _ What the fuck, Catra? _

She rested her head against the metal shelving with a deep, heavy sigh. Maybe she’d be better off calling it quits on studying for the night. She had to grab dinner before heading back to Hordeman Hall. She didn’t feel much like going back into that nest of chaos, though. The high-rise building had an awful reputation on campus, rightfully so. Sleeping there continued to be almost impossible, and for someone who valued her rest as much as Catra, every night was practically torture.

A loud, stunning musical theme startled the girl from her thoughts, and she looked over to see Hot Girl fumbling for her phone and picking up quickly. “What’s up?”

Catra looked back at the books and tried desperately to pretend she was looking for something in particular. She didn’t  _ want _ to eavesdrop, but blondie was talking loud enough that she’d have overheard it across the floor. She refused to admit that there was any other reason she was lingering near the athletic girl... not even the fact that beneath her jacket and short top, Catra could clearly see some very toned abs... Nope. Not a factor  _ at all _ .

Hot Girl snickered at the chaotic mess of sound erupting from her phone “Glimmer, slow down. I can’t understand anything you’re saying.” She laughed again, and Catra felt something swoop inside her. “No, not until you let me hear his side of the story.”

Catra almost felt like the universe was kicking her in the gut while she was down right now. Hearing this random cute chick laughing with her best friends over the phone while she hovered awkwardly nearby, searching desperately for a way to postpone the next two-and-a-half hours of Saturday night studying... clearly, someone up there wanted to rub it in.

“Listen, I’ll be there in half an hour, okay?” Hot Girl said, stifling her chuckles. “I just have to finish this write-up for Professor Hope’s class. Okay? Yes. Yes, I love you too, Glim. Yeah, see you then.” She hung up with a laugh and gave Catra an apologetic look. “Sorry about that. You know... crazy friends.”

_ Is she talking to me? _ Catra had to painfully resist the urge to look behind her. “Oh, you’re good. I, uh... I get it.”

“They try to get me out of my shell, you know?” Hot Girl replied, stowing her hands in her pockets and shrugging. “I just... don’t really get the whole party scene. Love them both to bits, though—even though they argue as much as they make out.”

“Make out?” Catra asked, raising an eyebrow. “Your best friends... are dating each other?”

The girl smirked. “Yep. It’s a bit insane.”

“I... wouldn’t know,” the brunette admitted. “Never really done the dating thing.”

_ Or the friends thing, _ she added silently.

“Oh, me neither,” Hot Girl replied.

Why did those words make Catra suddenly feel very excited? That didn’t seem normal. Maybe she just appreciated that she’d found a kindred spirit?

_ Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that. _

As Catra stared blankly at the rows of dusty spines in front of her, she suddenly felt every hair on her body stand up. Hot Girl had approached and was now standing  _ just behind her _ , off to one side.

“Are you looking for something specific?” she asked. “You’ve been staring at those books for a long time. I’m, uh, a bit of a language geek. Maybe I can help you find what you need.”

“Oh, um.” Catra turned around to face the girl and  _ wow she is really tall and she smells like fresh-cut grass. _ “No, uh...” Her shoulders slumped a little. “Honestly, I’m just looking for a break from my homework. I’ve been here all day and I won’t be going back for a while and it’s  _ really _ boring.”

“I bet,” Hot Girl replied. “Yeesh, you need a break.”

Catra folded her arms. “Yeah? Says the girl checking out linguistics books.”

“Alright, that’s fair,” she replied, taking a step back and raising her palms in a gesture of surrender. “Seems like we both need some time off.”

A slow, dull ache spread in Catra’s chest as she had a ridiculous, completely and utterly stupid thought. “What if we had some? Together?”

Hot Girl raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Catra steeled herself. She’d opened this door, and she would  _ not _ chicken out now. “I mean... do you want to get a coffee?”

“Little late for coffee,” the girl observed. “And I... I do have to go meet up with my friends.”

Catra’s face burned and she moved to sidle away. “Right, yeah. Sorry... I’ll—”

“How about tomorrow instead?”

Catra paused.

“Oh. Sure, that would be great.”

A broad grin lit up the blonde’s face. “Sick. Where should I meet you? Where are you living?”

“I’m in Hordeman,” Catra said.

“Damn, you live in the  _ Fright Zone _ ? I knew you were hardcore.”

Catra raised her eyebrows. “Hardcore? Sick? I didn’t know I was asking out a surfer.”

“So it’s a date, then,” the blonde noted. “Good to know.”

Catra couldn’t conceal the reddening of her face this time. “So, where do  _ you _ live, then?”

“I spent my freshman year in Hordeman, actually,” she said. “But I’m in Brightmoon Apartments this year. It’s a nice place—pretty close to campus.”

Catra nodded. She’d heard of it, though she rarely walked far enough out to get there, so she’d never seen it.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow around midday?”

“Make it 1:00,” the girl replied. “I’ve got soccer practice until noon.”

“On Sunday?” Catra asked.

Hot Girl shrugged. “I’m a dedicated athlete.”

Catra nodded. Fair enough.

“Well, I’ll see you then. Good luck with linguistics.”

After an awkward moment of hesitation, the two girls moved to return to their respective homeworks. Catra suddenly froze before turning the corner.

“Wait!” She turned back. “I can’t keep calling you hot girl in my head.” She strode up to the other girl and extended a hand. “I’m Catra.”

The blonde smiled. “I’m Adora. Though... I don’t mind if you use ‘hot girl’ instead.”

Catra nodded. “Good to know.” Grinning now, she turned away to head back to her books with her step feeling significantly lighter.

“You know, Catra,” Adora called from a few feet away as she disappeared into the stacks, “you’ve got quite the taste yourself.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright, yeah, this is gonna be a couple chapters after all...

Adora didn’t need her alarm to wake up. She’d been up for the last half an hour, staring at the ceiling. All the sound really accomplished was to elicit a disgruntled groan from the girl wrapped up in sparkly purple blankets on the other end of the room.

“Mmmph... why’d’you geddup so earrrly?”

“You’re the one who conked out on my bean bag instead of going back to your room, Glim,” Adora informed her, swinging her legs over the edge of the mattress to grab for her phone.

Glimmer returned a muffled grunt and turned over, apparently still unwilling to leave. She burrowed even deeper into the fabrics, until Adora could only barely spot the top of her dyed-pink head of hair.

Chuckling to herself, the blonde snatched up a towel and made her way to the dresser. Sundays always frustrated her—she always felt gross waking up, but it didn’t make sense to shower until after she finished exercising around noon. And after that, she had a date!

Oh  _ shit _ , she had a date.

She’d need to look nice, right? What did that even mean? Glimmer would know, but... Adora glanced back at her still-submerged friend. She clearly wouldn’t be available for several hours yet. Plus, Adora sort of wanted to keep this a secret. Something— _ someone _ —just for her. For now, at least.

Of course that brought her back to the problem of outfits. Would Catra expect something fancy? They’d just agreed on coffee, right? That’s not too formal... she could probably just wear her letterman jacket and jeans, right? Or would that be too relaxed?

“Urghhh,” she muttered. “I can’t do this.” She stepped outside her room with phone in hand, already calling the first number that came to mind. “Bow. Listen... I need your help.”

Bow took exactly fourteen minutes and twelve seconds to get to Adora’s apartment after hanging up the phone. When the blonde opened the front door, she saw him leaning against the alcove outside, chatting into his phone screen.

“...so she’s invited your truly over for an urgent Best Friends Squad meeting.” Bow smiled at Adora as she blinked in surprise, and then turned his camera on her face, selfie-style. “Everyone say hello to the lady of the hour!”

“Bow!” Adora hissed. “I didn’t—no, stop.”

But her friend had looped one arm over her shoulder and was already happily chatting away into his camera. “You all know from my last storytime about how I met Adora, right? Well, on the first day of class freshman year, Glimmer and I were tucked away in a little secret part of the quad trying to relax, when all of a sudden this crazy new girl,” he ruffled Adora’s hair, “falls out of the sky above us! She was chasing her soccer ball up in a tree and fell right on top of Glimmer’s face.”

Adora reddened as the entire livestream learned of her ridiculously clumsy entrance into her best friends’ lives. “Bow, seriously?”

“Come on, Adora,” he grinned, “we all know you’re an athletic superstar. It’s fun that you’re also a total klutz!”

Adora rolled her eyes and pulled away to go back into the apartment. “Alright, well, you can come on back once you’re ready to talk like regular people.”

“No, no, wait! I’m coming.” Bow tucked his phone close in to his chest and muttered a quick sign-off. “I’ll be back online this afternoon to debut my latest invention, so don’t miss out. You guys are gonna love it! Bow out.”

“Didn’t you break that two days ago?” Adora asked, eyeing Bow’s phone as he stashed it in his back pocket.

The boy lifted a finger and corrected her: “I didn’t break it. I took it apart.”

“Right.” Adora raised her eyebrows.

“I needed the parts for a project! And once it was finished I put it back together.”

“Isn’t that, like, illegal?” Adora asked, folding her arms and leaning back against the kitchen island.

“Only if I tried to sell the design,” Bow replied. “Which I won’t. So, what’s this big emergency you called me up here for?”

Adora took a slow breath. “I, uh... I have a da- a thing. And I need to look... nice-ish. And I could use your help. With that.”

Bow raised an eyebrow. “A thing?”

“Yeah.” Adora nodded. “Just a thing.”

Bow smiled, but shrugged and said: “Of course I’ll help. What do you have in the closet?”

Adora stood up and took a deep breath. “Follow me.”

As she led him around the corner to the living room, where she’d laid out all of her reasonably nice-looking clothing on the couch. Immediately, Bow began combing through them and muttering to himself. Adora stood back and watched him, totally bewildered by his logic and thought process. Unable to contribute to his efforts herself, she retreated into her thoughts and worries about the date.

The fact was, she didn’t know Catra at all. Aside from that short chat in the library, they hadn’t had any real conversations. What if the date got boring? What would they talk about? Should she prepare topics in advance?

_ Oh shit, I didn’t get her phone number. _ Adora pressed her face into her hands and groaned aloud. “This is gonna be a disaster.”

“I’ve done better with worse,” Bow replied, still staring at the sofa.

Adora sank down into an armchair and sat miserably. “Not talking about the clothes...”

Despite Adora’s determined pessimism, Bow only needed half an hour to whip up an outfit that even Adora had to admit seemed more or less workable. She didn’t know what Catra liked, but the ensemble came together and became greater than the sum of its rather measly parts.

“I look good,” she said, staring back at her reflection.

Beside her, Bow poked his head into the washroom and smiled. “Yeah, you do. Though, I could help more if you told me who this is actually  _ for _ ...?”

“I told you,” she replied, “just a thing. Meeting up with a new friend. I wanted to make a good impression. Try something a little more...”

“Planned?” Bow offered. “Nice? Actually fashionable?”

Adora rolled her eyes and socked him on the arm.

“Ow! Okay, okay.”

Then, she pulled him into a quick, tight squeeze. “Thanks, Bow. You’re the best.”

“You got it, bestie,” he replied, grinning. “I want to meet her, when you’re ready.”

“Meet who?” Adora really wished she had a better poker face.

Bow just smiled. “Bring her over for movie night sometime. And don’t worry, I won’t tell Glimmer until you’re ready.”

Despite herself, Adora had to utter a small “Thanks,” at that. If Glimmer suspected anything, she wouldn’t let the blonde hear the end of it until every last bean had been spilled. Adora wanted to take things slow, not scare off this girl before the first date even happened. So she’d keep quiet for a little while. Play this close to her chest.

Who knows, maybe this coffee date would be a disaster and Catra would never want to see her again! Adora sighed, rubbing at her eyelids. That would certainly make things less complicated... even though the experience would royally suck.

_ Stop imagining the worst, _ she told herself.  _ Just go and have a good time. That’s all you need to do for now. _

She could manage that much, right?

Right?

...oh boy.

**Author's Note:**

> I felt kinda crappy and lonely today, so I sat down and wrote for an hour (whoops). Catra knows how I feel... but I can give her a happy ending :)


End file.
